praká¹›ter evam ÄtmÄnam
avivicyÄbudhaḥ pumÄn
tattvena sparÅ›a-sammÅ«á¸haḥ
saá¹sÄraá¹ pratipadyate
praká¹›teḥ - from material nature; evam - in this way; ÄtmÄnam - the self; avivicya - failing to distinguish; abudhaḥ - the unintelligent; pumÄn - person; tattvena - because of thinking (material things) to be real; sparÅ›a - by material contact; sammÅ«á¸haḥ - completely bewildered; saá¹sÄram - the cycle of material existence; pratipadyate - attains.
An unintelligent man, failing to distinguish himself from material nature, thinks nature to be real. By contact with it he becomes completely bewildered and enters into the cycle of material existence.
A similar verse is found in ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam (1.7.5):
yayÄ sammohito jÄ«va
ÄtmÄnaá¹ tri-guṇÄtmakam
paro ’pi manute ’narthaá¹
tat-ká¹›taá¹ cÄbhipadyate
“Due to this external energy, the living entity, although transcendental to the three modes of material nature, thinks of himself as a material product and thus undergoes the reactions of material miseries.â€
